May 2017: Food Allergy News

5/15/2017:  Peanut Allergy Causes Chronic Pain

Even if people don't go into anaphylaxis, chronic pain can be a result of food allergies according to a study conducted by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital in Autralia.  The study followed thousands of children since they were one year old through ten years old.  Researchers have found that while many children grow out of their food allergies after they reach the age of four, babies and toddlers can spend their early lives in pain without their parents knowing the specific cause. For example, one child had peanut butter for breakfast every morning, then once that was eliminated the pain the child felt went from 70% to 10%.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-15/food-allergies-may-be-to-blame-for-child-illness-researchers-say/8527708

January 2017: Food Allergy News

1/5/2017:  National Institute of Health Recommends for Peanut Foods for Infants

The National Institue of Health (NIH) recommends giving peanuts to infants in varying degrees based upon that child's risk.  Here are the 3 degrees but all should be under the supervision of a doctor: 

1. Guideline 1 focuses on infants deemed at high risk of developing peanut allergy because they already have severe eczema, egg allergy or both. The expert panel recommends that these infants have peanut-containing foods introduced into their diets as early as 4 to 6 months of age to reduce the risk.
2. Guideline 2 suggests that infants with mild or moderate eczema should have peanut-containing foods introduced into their diets around 6 months of age to reduce the risk of peanut allergy.
3. Guideline 3 suggests that infants without eczema or any food allergy have peanut-containing foods freely introduced into their diets.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-sponsored-expert-panel-issues-clinical-guidelines-prevent-peanut-allergy

OCTOBER 2016: FOOD ALLERGY NEWS

10/7/2016:  Infants Dairy Allergy and Probiotics

Probiotics and prebiotics are important for digestion and are natively part of breastmilk.  But forumla-fed infants may need more to help not only with including distress (crying), eczema, diarrhea, abdominal pain, colic, vomiting but also the health of the gut and overall immune system. [1]

10/26/2016:  Peanut Patch Improves 36% Over Placebo Group

A study using Viaskin Peanut patch on the skin appears to improve tolerance to peanuts especially for ages 4-11 by 36%.  It was found the placebo group had a 12% improvement, but the patched group had a 46 to 48% improvement and was able to tolerate 10 times more peanut after one year. [2]

[1]  http://www.nutriciaresearch.com/new-data-important-for-infants-suffering-from-severe-cows-milk-protein-allergy/

[2]  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161026105052.htm

AUGUST 2016: FOOD ALLERGY NEWS

8/10/2016:  Peanut Desensitization for 1 to 3 year olds

According to a small study involving 40 children recently completed by the National Institute of Health, after giving the 1 to 3 year-olds very small doses of doctor supervised amounts of peanut powder, for two years, 80% of them could tolerate some foods containing small amounts of peanuts. [1]

8/10/2016:  New Company Creating Desensitization Doses

AIMMUNE is a new company in San Francisco, California implementing a Characterized Oral Desensitization ImmunoTherapy a.k.a. CODIT program to create precisely control amounts (in capsule form) of allergens to achieve a level of desensitization (but will require on-going doses). They are starting with peanuts and moving onto eggs in 2017.[2] 

[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160810104017.htm

[2] http://ir.aimmune.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=254097&p=irol-pressReleasesArticle&ID=2194768 

MARCH 2016 FOOD ALLERGY NEWS

3/4/2016:  More Data Supports Giving Peanut to Infants

A study in 2015 is supported by a report by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2016 that reports infants who are given peanuts mashed up during their first year of life will have less likelihood of developing an allergy.  4% vs. 18% of the control group developed peanut allergy--the higher percentage was in the peanut avoidance group--both groups consisted of children considered high risk for allergies. [1]

3/16/2016:  One Strain of Probiotics Helps Most

According to a study in mice, it was found that the probiotic strain called Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium longum KACC 91563 helps most with food allergies.  This strain can influence the immune system to cause the mast cells triggering the allergic response to essentially die. [2]

[1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1514209

[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160316085011.htm